


i hate this town

by hooliganism



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Backstory, Gen, Jack Being A Team Dad, Jack Has Issues, Pre-Fall of Overwatch, this is me someone from indiana proejcting onto jack who is also from indiana
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-26
Updated: 2017-02-26
Packaged: 2018-09-27 00:13:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9937358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hooliganism/pseuds/hooliganism
Summary: Jack was never meant for Indiana.





	

“You know, Jack,” Gabriel said, rubbing down his shotgun with a microfiber rag, “I visited Indiana once. Nice place.”

Jack scoffed and ran a hand through his shaggy blonde hair.  “You didn’t live there.”

“You didn’t think it was nice?”

“Naw. It’s dead. It’s… stagnant. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.” He detached the scope on his pulse rifle to inspect the digital display. “I’ve never been to California. What was that like?”

Gabriel shrugged and took the beanie off his head, sticking it in his sweatshirt pocket. “I’m from Oakland. Shitty place. I joined the service and I left.”

“There must be more to it than that,” Jack pressed. “Was it close to the ocean?”

“On the San Francisco bay, yeah. But there isn’t much to say. Ghetto, graffiti, crime. You know.”   


“I don’t, actually. The biggest body of water I’d ever seen before leaving was Lake James.” He was silent for a moment. “Do you miss it?”

“California? Yeah.” Gabriel didn’t elaborate. “...Do you miss Indiana?”   
  
“No,” Jack said immediately. “It’s… dead. Indiana hit its peak in the 1890s and has been in decline ever since. One of the shittiest states for education. Record dropout rates. Still can’t buy booze on a Sunday, and God help you if you’re gay, or if you’re brown, or if you’re an unmarried woman over the age of 25. Visitors, they say things like ‘it’s so calm here’, but if you live there, then you know. It’s not calm. It’s hopelessness.” All of this came in one breath, and by the end, Jack was holding the cleaning rag so tightly that his fist was trembling. 

“...That sucks,” Gabriel finally offered to break the tense silence.  
  
Jack shook his head slightly. “Yeah. It kinda does.”


End file.
